Ludwig Van for a Wednesday Evening

Gustav Klimt, Section of the Beethoven Frieze (1902)

“It had been a wonderful evening and what I needed now, to give it the perfect ending, was a little of the Ludwig Van.”

–Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange (1962)

And to mark (belatedly) the hero’s birthday, here’s my favorite movement from my favorite piano sonata, the sonata no. 29 in B-flat major (”Hammerklavier”), op. 106, fourth movement, largo–allegro risoluto (the “fugue”) performed in 2005 at Bass Hall by Maria Mazo. Watch those fingers fly and do your best not to get giddy. You’ll find that’s impossible.